


in the roots (old gods sleep)

by godaime_obito



Series: magic week [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Naruto Magic Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-09 17:48:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19480930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godaime_obito/pseuds/godaime_obito
Summary: naruto magic week day 4: torn from the earthFor transparencies sake, Obito must admit no one asked him to check what was up with the so called ‘Forest of Death’, but someone had to find out what was up with the giant tigers eventually and there’s no one better for the job than him.





	in the roots (old gods sleep)

There’s something off about this forest. Obito doesn’t mean that in the way everyone else does when they talk about it either. People whisper about the oversized wildlife and the strange plants growing taller than anywhere else, but what bothers him is something only a nature mage like himself could sense: the unifying magic. Normally every living thing has a distinct life force of its own, but through every living thing in the forest, especially the plants, runs the same magic. He can feel its source buried somewhere deep in the forest, the magic seeping out into everything like growth springing out around an oasis in the desert.

For transparencies sake, Obito must admit no one _asked_ him to check what was up with the so called ‘Forest of Death’, but someone had to find out what was up with the giant tigers eventually and there’s no one better for the job than him. The only other nature mage on the continent is Tenzo, and everyone knows he’s a pushover. You can’t trust someone who regularly ends up footing Bakashi’s bill with a mystery like this.

Obito dodges a five-foot Venus Flytrap, for the third time, and sends a wave of his own magic ahead of him to calm the rather angry nightshade up ahead. If he can avoid being yanked around by a vine like when he first got here, which he’s never admitting happened at all if anyone asks, he should reach the source in less than ten minutes.

He slows his pace as he gets closer. No vines even approach him, and the closer he gets the more subdued the plants become. He reaches a clearing that’s eerily calm and still with one large tree growing up in the center. And by large he means absolutely massive. It’s nearly enough to give a redwood a run for its money. He doesn’t recognize the species, and he knows a _lot_ of trees. It’s definitely the source of the spreading magic, and even if he wasn’t a nature mage up this close he would still be able to tell this tree was some kind of magical.

A cool breeze ruffles the leaves around him. Obito approaches it cautiously with the sudden realization he doesn’t have any plan about what to do when he gets to the source. Oops. Well, he isn’t turning back now. As he gets closer the surrounding noise of the forest dims, until all he can hear is the soft press of his feet on the grass. He presses both of hands against the rough bark, palms flat and fingers splayed, then slowly reaches toward it with his own magic. He searches gently, flowing as close to the natural magic veins as he can, looking for a hint of what’s forming the power growing from the tree.

There’s something underneath. Wrapped in the roots of the tree, or perhaps the roots are growing out of it? Whatever it is, it’s languid as if asleep. It’s larger than him, but not but too much. Still human-sized. Obito pushes more magic towards it, and then more, and more, hoping something will shift or be revealed as outside nature magic merges into the leaking power source. After some time, he’s not even sure the length of, his magic begins to wane, and he moves to pull back.

As his fingertips leave the bark, the ground rumbles beneath him. Obito scrambles backwards as the ground he was standing on begins to buckle upwards, something pushing up from underneath the tree. His back hits a smaller tree on the edge of the clearing as whatever was leaking magic under the massive tree bursts up from the ground. It- he? -lands barely a meter in front of Obito, the ground around them shaking a little under the force.

What the fuck?

“Hello!” the kind-of-person cheers.

“Hi?”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you! I haven’t seen any humans in a long time, even not counting however long I was asleep,” he says.

“Um. Do you sleep beneath trees often?” Obito asks.

“Not technically. It’s just when I do I tend to sleep for a long time,” he clarifies. “I’m Hashirama, and this,” he says, gesturing wildly around them, “is my forest!”

“ _Your_ forest. Oooh,” he replies. A powerful nature spirit, if he’s attached to this massive forest. Or even more impressively _made_ it. “I’m Uchiha Obito: nature mage,” he adds, twitching awkwardly as he considers bowing, and then aborts. “The pleasure is all mine.”

“A _nature_ mage,” Hashirama muses aloud, “I’ve met fire mages, water mages, lighting mages, rock mages, wind mages, and even a few animal mages, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen a nature one.”

“We’re rather rare. Like- uh- nature spirits. Can’t say, um, that I’ve met one of those until today either,” Obito stammers, not sure what his contemplative tone means. He isn’t sure if he should be flattered or scared.

“Touché,” he concedes, before steps closer, closing the gap between them in a few large strides. “Let’s be friends,” he chirps.

Well, he seems nice enough so far, and not even Obito’s reckless enough to potentially piss off a powerful spirit. Discounting that one fire spirit he found in a cave, but that doesn’t count.

“Sure,” he replies, “from one friend to another: Can you tell me if you made those giant tigers on purpose?”

“Giant tiger? There’s a giant tiger?” he answers, scrunching his brow in thought.

“Several of them actual.”

“Strange. I don’t remember making any. Maybe I should do something about that,” he says pensively.

“The nearby villagers would definitely appreciate it if you did,” Obito offers, “I could even help you find them, although I’m more of a plant person than an animal one.”

“Ah, don’t tell the wildlife, but so am I,” he confesses. “I would love some help though!” Hashirama cheers, “Come on! We’ve got tigers to find.” He bounds passed Obito and out of the clearing without pausing to make sure he’s being followed.

Obito gives a faint shrug. After a crazy day like this, why not? He follows him steadily. Giving off energy the way he does, there’s no concern about losing track of him.


End file.
